NEWS
Follow UsSaturday’s encounter against Pakistan was a contest of little relevance for most England players, but the clash was an extremely relevant and emotional one for David Willey, who’d announced two weeks ago that he’ll bid adieu to international cricket post the World Cup.
In Kolkata, hence, for once, all the spotlight was on Willey and 33-year–old had a night to remember as apart from bagging the Player of the Match award for taking 3/56 with the ball, he completed the landmark of 100 ODI wickets.
The farewell script couldn’t have gone any better for the all-rounder, but despite the fairytale ending, the 33-year-old asserted that he’s leaving international cricket with ‘deep regret’.
The reason, Willey revealed, was because he was almost forced to retire by the dire contract situation despite playing the best cricket of his life.
“My time is done because I've called time on it, but it's with deep regret, I think,” Willey said at the post-match press conference on Saturday.
“I think anybody looking in has probably looked at the way I've gone about my business and probably playing the best cricket of my career. I'm 33, as fit as I've ever been.
“So, one of the reasons that I wasn't offered a contract was them going in a different direction after the World Cup, I don't know why.”
There is another World Cup coming up in seven months’ time, but Willey asserted that he’s confident that he’s played his last ever match for England. The 33-year-old revealed that he’s done being the ‘third wheel’ and doesn’t want to spend any more time being anxious and insecure, not knowing if he would make it to the next tour.
“Look, I think I could still have played a part in that World Cup. I feel like I'm probably playing my best cricket. So that was part of my decision-making with my family, but it's been a period for some time now and like I've just touched on not knowing quite where I stand with England and it's just taken its toll and becomes very tiring.
“I don't think never say never but right now I'm very confident that my decision today was my last game of cricket for England. Do I want to go to the Caribbean and run drinks and not know where I stand and just feel like a third wheel again which is very much what I felt like when I turned up at Lords and being the only one without a contract, probably not so I'm done.”
Willey was the only member of England’s 15-member World Cup squad that was not offered a contract, and the 33-year-old revealed that, at one point, he was not even sure if he would make the trip to India.
“Yeah, look I think if I'm being brutally honest now look, I wasn't sure whether I was going to come to the World Cup even to the 11th hour when we were, the morning that we were joining up at Lords, I still wasn't sure whether I'd make the trip or not. So, from then on it was something that was on my mind.
“And look, it's not just that I haven't been offered a contract. it's sort of how I feel valued as an England player there when I look down that list of other guys that have got contracts.
“So yeah, it had been on my mind. I'd spoken with my family, I'd spoken with Jos, Motty – and then it came to the decision that the time was right for me to call it a day and to make sure that I did enjoy my last few games of cricket because it's special, wearing this shirt is special and I didn't want to walk away with tainted memories of playing for my country,” the 33-year-old said.
It’s been a rollercoaster ride for Willey with respect to England. He finishes with 100 ODI wickets but does not have an ODI World Cup to show for, after being axed in the eleventh hour in 2019 to accommodate Jofra Archer. He has a T20 World Cup to his name but did not feature in a single game in the World Cup in Australia last year, where England toppled Pakistan in the final to become double-champions.
Still, the 33-year-old picked winning the T20 World Cup as his best memory, due to what it meant for his family.
“I think, winning that World Cup in Australia, I didn't actually play a game,” Willey said, when asked to pick his favorite England moment.
“But from my journey from 2019 to have my family there two children running on the outfield afterwards two kids in the line with the whole team running up to the Barmy Army at the MCG. An incredible memory not just for me, but for my whole family and sort of encapsulates and celebrates my journey from falling out of love with the game to finding my way back in and I guess the resilience that I've had to overcome the disappointments along the way.”
